State & Local Leaders Discuss Ways To End Gun Violence In South Florida

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – State, local and federal authorities came together at City of Miami Police headquarters to speak about the gun violence that’s plaguing our community, particularly victimizing young people, and ways to address it.

“We talked at length about a variety of different things,” said City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. “Increasing funding for technological devices, increasing funding and helping to identify children earlier through the 5,000 Role Model Program. We talked about cameras outside schools.”

On hand for the meeting — Mayor Suarez, Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, and Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez, among others.

“What we want to do is get up here at some point in the future and God willing there are no more murders in our community,” said Director Perez. “There is no more violence and that’s who we really measure that we really have succeeded.”

The meeting, largely organized by Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, focused on a plethora of topics.

The group discussed how the federal government can help fund or help deal with the issue of gun violence. They also spoke about threats on social media.

“We talked about Facebook. We talked about social media and how it affects children,” said Congresswoman Wilson. “We talked about how we’re going to work on putting a substation in the projects and a substation right outside of the projects.”

Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said although the majority of incidents that impact the youth happens outside of school, it’s important to protect schools and their perimeters.

“Federal funding that would provide for additional law enforcement support in and around schools,” said Superintendent Carvalho. “Federal investment in advanced technology that would allow for the monitoring of schools and the perimeter of schools not just during school hours.”